Sparkyville, USAEpisode 8: Visiting Lucy
by HPDrummerman
Summary: Charlie Brown, along with Peppermint Patty and Linus, visits Lucy in prison for the first time since being back in Sparkyville. He is shocked by the change in attitude from her. Back in town, Violet gets the shock of her life, a performance evaluation by the board of directors and her father.
1. Prologue

Episode 8: Visiting Lucy

**PROLOGUE**

Somewhere in a rough part of Sparkyville, on a lonely corner of a street downtown sat a pub. The patrons there were poor, low class and middle class, blue collar-types that frequent the pub regularly. The night was pretty foggy at best. Even with the surrounding buildings, it looked like everything was in a haze. Inside the pub sat some of the regulars. Harold, a construction worker, was winding down after a hard day's work. Timothy, a vagrant from the streets, was on his fifth shot of whiskey. He had gotten the money for his daily drinks from panhandling all day. Michelle, a stripper from the strip club up the street, was finally done dancing for dirty old men, only to drink with more dirty old men. At least these guys weren't asking her to dance for them and give them a performance. The bartender was Mel, a burly man with tattoos on both his arms, and an eye patch on his right eye. He had lost it in a fight with an unruly customer who stabbed him in his eye with a broken beer bottle. Another person, Gill, the vacuum salesman, came in to the pub for a drink.

"Hey, Mel," he greeted. "How about a round?"

"Sure thing, Gill," said Mel. He poured Gill his favorite brand of bourbon and a cola chaser. Gill took his usual spot at the bar.

"How was business, Gill?" asked Harold.

"Same ol', same ol'," Gill replied. "Trying to sell vacuums to housewives is not easy these days. There aren't many housewives around anymore."

"You need to venture out to the rich neighborhoods, Gill," slurred Timothy. "That's where those rich bitches live!"

"Watch it, Tim!" warned Michelle. "But he's right, Gill, honey. You do need to go out to the rich neighborhoods. Many of the wives out there do nothing but stay at home. Plus, you might find a house with a housekeeper who could use a new vacuum."

"You're right, Michelle," said Gill. "I'll just try that out."

At that moment, a black-haired woman walked in. Her hair was disheveled and hanging down. She was carrying some office stuff in a box. She walked over to the rest of the group at the bar and sat her box down. Then she took a seat at one of the stools.

"May I help you, miss?" asked Mel.

"No one can help me," said the woman. "Not today, or ever. But I will have your best scotch on the rocks."

"Coming right up." Mel made the woman her drink and handed it to her.

"Keep my tab going," she said.

"So what's your story, sister?" asked Michelle.

"Glad you asked," she responded. "Just a few hours ago, I was the COO of one of the biggest companies in Sparkyville. Now I'm at the bottom of the barrel!"

"Bottom of the barrel?" asked Gill.

"That's right, ROCK FUCKING BOTTOM!" yelled the woman. "All I wanted was for everyone to answer at my beckoned call. That wasn't too much to ask, was it? Anyway, it all began just a few days ago. I had no idea SHE'D return, but she was the reason of my predicament now…"

**UP NEXT, THE STORY BEGINS…**


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1: GOING ON A SMALL TRIP**

_Three days earlier…_

"So you'll be all right for the next few days, Sally?" asked Charlie.

"I'll be fine, Charlie," Sally answered. "You haven't seen Lucy since being back home. I have visited her a few times since she was locked up, so I'm good. Besides, I have classes to go to, anyway. Do YOU have anyone filling in at the recruitment center?"

"Gunnery Sergeant Holmes is filling in for me. Pat has Mary covering her shift at Ray's. And Linus has one of the clerks working his schedule. We're all set for the next couple of days."

"Okay, have fun, bro. Give Lucy my love."

"Will do." And Charlie headed for his SUV to go pick up Pat and Linus for the trip. All of them were going to visit Lucy at the Hennepin County Women's Correctional Facility. Even though Sparkyville was also in Hennepin County, the prison was a far enough distance from the city that the trio would be staying overnight at a nearby hotel.

Once they hit the road, they started talking about Lucy's case. Charlie asked Linus, "So do they think she has a chance at parole?"

"We're hoping, Charlie," said Linus. "Lucy's been abiding by the rules in prison, plus she's been working in laundry and even helping out around the facility doing odd jobs to keep busy. She's also completed her anger management courses and is now on medication for her bipolar disorder."

"Well, here's hoping Lucille has an early release," said Pat. And they continued down the road.

Meanwhile at Grant Industries, Violet had found a new patsy to take the place of Sally to do her errands. An innocent girl named Janet was the next intern for Violet to abuse. However she was more tolerant of her due to the fact she wasn't related to Charlie or Sally. But what Violet didn't know was that she was about to receive a surprise visit.

"I told you, NO GODDAMN WRINKLES!" Violet shouted at Janet.

"The dry cleaners assured me there were no wrinkles in your outfit, Ms. Gray!" Janet protested.

"Bullshit!" scoffed Violet. "You expect me to believe that the Wang family, people I have been going to for years for my dry cleaning, had the audacity to leave wrinkles in MY clothing?! You know what? Get the fuck out of my site and help the other interns with delivering mail! And if you mess THAT up, your scholarship will be ripped from you faster than Superman can fly around the entire planet!"

"VIOLET!" She was startled by a familiar voice. She looked up, shocked to see her father Grant looking at her with quite a bit of anger.

"Daddy!" she said, trying to save face. "What a surprise!"

"I'll bet," growled Grant.

"How much of that did you see?" asked Violet.

"All of it! Janet, could you excuse us? Go ahead and like Ms. Gray said, help out in the mailroom. BUT, your scholarship is safe."

"Thank you, Mr. Gray!" And Janet headed out the office.

"You know, Violet, I've been hearing a lot about you in recent weeks," Grant began. "Stories about how you are having the interns pick up your dry cleaning, serving you your lunch, while taking away theirs, threatening both interns AND employees with retaliation. I didn't want to believe that my little girl was this power-hungry monster. But now I can see it."

"But daddy, I-"

"ENOUGH! I came by today to tell you in the next couple of days, there will be a performance evaluation on you done by myself and the board of directors. It starts tomorrow. So instead of coming here to this office, report to the conference room at 9 o'clock sharp. And DON'T be late!" Violet sank in her chair. She couldn't believe her father was doing that. And Grant left and went back to his office.

"I need a drink," she sighed.

**NEXT CHAPTER: CHECKING IN**


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2: THE NIGHT BEFORE**

Charlie, Pat, and Linus checked into a motel not too far from the prison Lucy was at. They would visit her the next day, but they were staying a couple of nights at the motel so they wouldn't have to drive back right after the visit. Linus had gotten his own room, while Charlie and Pat shared a room. But the first thing they would do before calling it a night was they went to a local restaurant for dinner. They went to a place called Rogers' Steak and Potato Palace. It was slightly nicer than Ray's where Pat worked. They took their seats. After the waitress took their order, the three talked for a bit.

"So how are things going with Mary Jo, Linus?" asked Pat.

"I'm taking it slow right now," answered Linus. "I still need to see if she has a boyfriend before pursuing her."

"Probably a good idea," agreed Charlie. "Anyway, is Schroeder still going through with his restraining order against Lucy?"

"Sadly he is," said Linus. "What's funny is that the woman Lucy attacked forgave her after she apologized to her personally. She was the one who had every right to file a restraining order, but didn't. I ran into her not too long ago and she told me while what Lucy did to her was horrible, at least she took responsibility for her actions and if she stayed angry at her, it would have consumed her. So when she apologized, it made it easier for her to forgive her. Schroeder, on the other hand, is less forgiving. Okay, we know Lucy annoyed him with endless marriage scenarios, we get that. But all she wants to do is tell him she's sorry and that she won't bug him anymore. I even told Schroeder that she wouldn't contact him after she did get out of prison, but he didn't want to believe it. I don't think he wants to be angry with her; he NEEDS to be angry with her. I think he wants her to stay in jail because it means that he can feel like he's free of her."

"That's a sad way to be," said Pat.

"It sure is," agreed Linus, "but try telling him that. He's as stubborn as a mule. I think Lucy had turned him off to any kind of romance. I'm not talking about with her, but with anyone. I think it's more than just trying to emulate Beethoven, as he always said."

"Yeah, but I'm not going to push him to talk about it," said Charlie. Soon after, the waitress brought them their food, and they ate their dinner.

Later that night, Charlie was in the bed watching TV. Pat was getting ready in the bathroom. The conversation with Linus was on his mind.

"I couldn't imagine what Schroeder is going through right now," he said to Pat.

"Me neither, Chuck," agreed Pat. "I think he's afraid to fall in love."

"And I think Linus was right. Lucy may have turned him off from having any kind of relationship. People may think he's gay, but what's funny is that he's not attracted to anybody, male OR female."

"You know, Chuck, I think Schroeder might be asexual."

"You might be right, Patty. It sounds like someone who could be. I'll run that by Linus tomorrow before we leave for the prison."

"Cool. But for now, how about you and I have a little romance time?"

Charlie looked over to see Pat dressed in some sexy red lingerie. A smile came across his face. He knew he got lucky when he decided to reunite with Pat and have a second chance at love with her.

"So, soldier," she cooed, "is this regulation attire?"

"Yes, ma'am!" said Charlie, checking her out.

"I'm ready for duty, Sergeant Brown. Anything to serve my country." And the two lovebirds embraced and kissed each other. It was going to be quite the night for them.

**NEXT CHAPTER: VIOLET UNDER FIRE**


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3: ANSWERING FOR HER SINS**

The next day, Violet was at Grant Industries waiting outside of the conference room for her performance review. Her father and the Board of Directors were already inside preparing for the review. She was understandably nervous about it. The last thing she wanted to do was let her father down, but she may have done so with her actions against the intern and employees.

Patty (Swanson) happened to go by with her maid cart. She saw Violet waiting outside the conference room. She wouldn't make her presence known to her, at least not yet. She wanted to see what would happen to the witch supreme. She kept working and went on. Violet only got a glimpse of her former bestie. She looked familiar to her, but couldn't tell as her face was turned the other way.

At that moment, her father, grant, opened the doors to the conference room. She looked up seeing her father looking serious at her. It wasn't with the love he usually show, but with a seriousness. It was a look that meant business.

"Violet, you may come in now," he said, calmly, yet firm. She complied and got up to go in. Once she entered, she was shocked to see Sally sitting at one of the seat at the table. Sally looked at her former adversary with contempt.

"What is SHE doing here, daddy?!" asked Violet to her father.

"That will be explained during this meeting," Grant replied, coldly. "Please. Have a seat." And Violet sat at one of the very ends of the table. Her father took a seat at the other end. The directors, along with Sally, were in the middle seats. Waiting for the talking to die down, Grant began the meeting.

"Before we begin, I would like to thank the directors for taking time out of their busy schedules to take part in this important meeting. As you can see, we have a guest here with us. Gentlemen, I'd like for you to meet Sally Brown. She was one of the many interns here at Grant Industries. She is also a recipient of our scholarship program. She is just one of the people who will take part in this review, as she is representing the other interns here at G.I., for the rest are still busy working, so they couldn't be here." Violet knew she was doomed at that point.

Grant continued, "At this time, I'd like to ask if there's any questions anyone would like to ask?" No one spoke. "Okay then, let's begin."

At that same time, Charlie, Pat, and Linus arrived at the Hennepin County Women's Correctional Facility. They were waiting in the cafeteria for Lucy to come out for her visit. Linus was with them, as he was the one who could bring them close to her because if it was just Charlie and Pat, they would be relegated to the booths with the glass between them. At that moment, Lucy walked into the room. When she saw Charlie and Pat, a smile came across her face. She couldn't get over to them fast enough.

"Charlie, Pat, it's so good to see you two!" she said, hugging them warmly. She kissed each of them on the cheek. "How have you two been?"

"Pretty good," said Charlie.

"How are you holding up, Lucille?" asked Pat.

"As good as I can," Lucy replied. "Just holding out hope that I will get paroled here soon."

"Well it's looking promising, sis," said Linus. "Stan says that the parole board is taking up your case as we speak."

"The warden said that she'd put in a good word for me, as well," said Lucy.

"Things looks promising for you, Lucy," said Charlie.

"Oh Charlie, look at you," said Lucy, with tears streaming down her face. "You turned out to be a success. I'm so glad you proved me wrong."

"Come again?" asked a confused Charlie.

"Well you went to the Marines and graduated," she continued. "Not only graduating, but rising in the ranks, becoming a Staff Sergeant in the process. Not only that, finding love with Pat here. Charlie, I'm so sorry for what I put you through when we were younger. I was so mean to you growing up. I hope you can forgive me."

Charlie was taken aback. Here was Lucy, once known as the towns biggest fussbudget, the crabbiest girl in the neighborhood, the only kid who could out-Violet Violet for mean attitude, apologizing to Charlie for her actions as a kid.

"All is forgiven, Lucy," said Charlie with a smile. "Truth be told, you did help me out, too. You were right in some aspects of my life. I WAS too wishy-washy, I was bland, I was even in some aspects of life, a failure. But as I got older, I started correcting those failures and those faults that I had. And it started the day we graduated when I enrolled in the Marines. They broke me down and built me back up, stronger, braver, and wiser. Now, I don't sweat the little things, nor do I over annualize things like I used to. I am a better man, and yes, you did help me see that. You were mean to me, no doubt about it. But unlike Violet and others, you were also brutally honest with me and even helped, which is more than I can say for Violet, who just didn't want any part of me. So while I do forgive you, I also thank you, Lucy."

"Well, as I said, thank you for proving me wrong," said Lucy, who was now crying out of happiness. "Charlie Brown, you are no longer a failure-face; you are now a success-face!"

"Success-face," grinned Charlie. "I like that!" And the folks laughed. The rest of the day was spent catching Lucy up on things that had been going on since she was locked up. Linus did tell her about Schroeder's plan to ban her from seeing him. She assured Linus and the others that her crush on him was no more and those feeling she once had for him no longer existed. She was ready to take on the world.

**NEXT CHAPTER: VIOLET'S DAY OF RECKONING CONTINUES…**


	5. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4: THE REVIEW CONTINUES**

_Gray Industries, 1:00 PM_

"Ms. Gray would attack Ms. Brown with insults and threats of revoking her scholarship is she didn't do what she said," told one employee. "And we were warned to keep our mouths shut about it or we'd get worse than what Ms. Brown would, short of firing. She was also hard on the other interns, but she treated Ms. Brown the worst of the bunch."

"IT'S BECAUSE SHE JUST SO HAPPENES TO BE THE SISTER TO THE BIGGEST LOSER WHO EVER LIVED, CHARLIE BROWN!" screamed Violet out of nowhere. "HE'S ALWAYS BEEN A FUCKING STUPID LOSER WHO CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT, BUT NOW IT TURNS OUT HE'S A SOLDIER IN THE MARINE CORPS! AND NOT JUST **ANY** SOLDIER; A GODDAMNED SERGEANT! HOW COULD A WISHY-WASHY, GOOD FOR NOTHING LIKE CHARLIE BROWN BECOME A SERGEANT IN THE FUCKING MARINES?!"

"VIOLET, PLEASE!" pleaded Grant.

"NO, DADDY! IT NEEDS TO BE KNOWN NOW! I FUCKING HATE THE ENTIRE BROWN FAMILY! THEIR FATHER SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A SUCCESSFUL BARBER! WE ARE ABOVE THEM! WE'RE SOMETHING, DADDY, AND THEIR **NOTHING!** IF THEY, ESPECIALLY THEIR SHITSTAIN OF A SON, WERE BURNING, I WOULDN'T PISS ON THEM TO PUT OUT THE FIRE!"

Everyone gasped at the spectacle that had just happened. Violet had finally shown her true colors. Grant's jaw dropped to the floor. The other members of the board were shell-shocked. The employee who was giving their statement about the treatment that Sally had received, shook their head.

"And this is why I left the internship," said Sally, breaking the silence. "Your COO has a sick obsession with my family due to extreme jealousy."

Grant slowly got up from his chair. He looked squarely at his now-disheveled daughter, who was panting and even foaming at the mouth from her rage-filled rant. "Young lady, please leave the conference room so we can render our decision."

Violet didn't say a word. She complied and got up. She gave Sally a death-stare that gave the blonde the chills. Sally stood her ground, though, and didn't show any intimidation.

Sally did say one more thing to Violet. "What did my brother ever do to you to make you hate him so much? Do you EVEN know yourself?"

Violet just glared at Sally. "Does it even matter now?" she asked. And she left the conference room slamming the doors behind her, knocking down some pictures that were hanging on the walls in the process. Grant shook his head.

"Where did I go wrong?" he asked himself.

A bit later, Charlie, Pat, and Linus were leaving the prison. They had a good visit with Lucy. Charlie, for his part, was amazed at the change in Lucy. Never in a million years would he thought Lucy would turn her life around like she did. But she was much nicer, and even repentant for her past behavior towards him and others. She was also determined to live differently once she was released. And if she couldn't be around Schroeder anymore, so be it. The love she once had for him was gone. She even wondered why she wasted her time on someone who didn't love her to begin with in the first place. They would head back to the motel to get some rest before heading back to Sparkyville in the morning.

**NEXT CHAPTER: VIOLET'S FATE**


	6. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5: C.O.O.? NO MO'!**

The next day, after an explosive meeting at Grant Industries the previous day, a cooler, calmer Violet entered the conference room. Her father was seated at his seat, as was the other directors. Sally wasn't there today, as she had her say the previous day. In fact, Violet did not say a word besides "good morning" to some of her colleagues. She sat down at her seat in the room. Her father began.

"Are you okay, dear?" he asked.

"I'm much better, daddy, thank you," said Violet, stoically.

"Okay then," said Grant, relieved that she was calm. "Well this meeting will come to order. Today we make our vote to see if Violet stays on as COO. All in favor of her staying on?'

No one, except Violet herself, raised their hand.

"All opposed?"

This time everyone, barring Violet and Grant, raised their hands.

"It's unanimous," Grant finished. "Violet, as of today, you are hereby relieved of your duties as COO of Grant Industries. This doesn't mean that you are fired from the company, itself, but you will be reassigned to a different department. We will give you to the end of the day to clean out your office."

Violet was almost catatonic. Her own father relinquished her position at the family company. It didn't matter that he didn't outright terminate her, she wasn't in charge anymore. To her that was the ultimate slap in the face. But what was even stranger was that she didn't blame her father; she put the blame on her longtime nemesis', the Brown family. She didn't say it out loud, but she thought it. She slowly got up and left the conference room. She took the elevator to her office on her floor. The employees and interns were looking at her. She knew they were staring and she didn't care. Patty was also watching from a distance from her maid cart. Once in her office Violet buzzed her secretary.

"Maria?" Violet began.

"Yes, Ms. Gray?" Maria responded.

"Could you have one of the interns bring up a couple of boxes to my office, please?"

"Right away, Ms. Gray." And Violet sat at her desk one last time to let what had just happened sink in. It was at that moment she finally broke down and cried.

_Back to the present, at the pub…_

"And that's what happened," Violet said, polishing off her fifth glass of scotch. "I was once one of the most powerful female COO's of a big company, sure it was my old man's company, but still, I was running it for him, to nothing! As of today, I'm out!"

"Wait a minute!" said Michelle, the stripper. "You were bullying your workers and some poor intern because you had it out for her brother?! Did you two date before and he cheat on you with another girl or something?"

"Fuck no!" retorted a drunk Violet. "I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole! I just hate his guts mainly because he exists in my world! Him and his family!"

"Girl you are messed up!" sighed Michelle. "Here's the payment for my tab, Mel, honey. I'm outta here."

"Be safe, Shelly," said Mel.

"Anyway, I'm going to hail an Uber and head back to my place," said Violet. "I need to plan my revenge on the Browns." And she picked up her box of stuff and headed out the pub.

"Did she say revenge?" asked Gill.

"She's drunk, Gill," said Mel. "She'll probably forget it after sleeping off the alcohol."

"I hope so." And the rest of the patrons enjoyed their drinks before heading back out to their lives just to do it all over again.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


End file.
